5. Website Structure
5.1 Strategy decision 11
5.2 Wytee’s corporate Website 11
5.2.1 Objectives of the Website 11
5.2.2 Promotional tools used 11
5.2.3 Design 12
5.3 WyDGee Website
5.3.1 Objectives of the Website 12
5.3.2 Promotional tools used 12
5.3.3 Design 13
6. Cost 13
7. Evaluating the strategy 13
8. Conclusion 14
8. Bibliography 15
1. Introduction
Our remit has been to evaluate the role of new technology in the Extreme Sports market. Information gathered from a detailed Audit has enabled our group to develop an Internet marketing strategy culminating in the design of two distinct Websites.
2. Audit
2.1 Extreme Sports & society:
In general, extreme sports contain an element of danger. Many of them are new versions of older sports, made possible my technological changes or improvements in equipment.
Extreme sports have been characterised as “alternative sports” in part because they are seen as alternatives to older, established sports, but also because many athletes adopted an alternative lifestyle known as punk & later grunge. They have become an established part of Urban Culture.
Major corporations are tapping into extreme sports because they attract a very coveted audience: youths 12 to 19 with a disposable spending allowance estimated at $103 billion a year. For instance, Mountain Dew began using extreme sports images in its TV campaign and saw sales soar.
According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association's (SGMA) analysis of the current Superstudy on Sports Participation, the dominant characteristic of the most popular extreme sports is forward.
2.2 Pest Analysis:
2.2.1 Political:
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Devolution in Wales – The Welsh Assembly has departments & legislation that deals with Sport, environment & the local Welsh economy.
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Government Legislation – Wytee’s will have to adhere to Government Legislation on Safety.
2.2.2 Economic:
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High Employment: 28.23m people are now in work according to Government figures.
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Economy: There has been a slow down in the world economy & a weakness in the Euro. According to the Wealth of the Nation report by CACI Limited the national average household income for the whole of Great Britain in 2001 was £26200 an increase of 34% on 1996 figures.
2.2.3 Social:
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Demographics: The last UK census showed that 20% of the population are under 16.
2.2.4 Technological:
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Internet usage in the UK: According to the “who’s buying online report 2001” by Etypes, online sales (browsing & purchasing) is still relatively low, except with men aged 25-34.
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TV Channel: There is now a TV Channel available on Sky Digital that is dedicated to Extreme Sports.
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Product Innovation: Extreme Sports are technologically innovative. New designs are constantly being developed to improve safety, enjoyment & price.
2.3 Market Research:
- Most popular Extreme Sports:
- People’s brief will determine whether they participate. Adults aged 15-24 regard Extreme Sports as expensive & not easily available. In addition, people aged 25-44 also felt Extreme Sports are not easily available but satisfying.
- Extreme sports goods including clothing, footwear & equipment occupied 2.1% of sports goods in 2001.
- 10% of customers in Mintel’s survey indicated that activity days out were too expensive.
2.4 SWOT Analysis:
2.4.1 Strengths:
- Quality, reputation, reliability, safety, brand image.
2.4.2 Weaknesses:
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The percentage of age group 15-19 visiting Wytee’s is 6%. However according to Mintel, “Around four fifths of 15-24-year-old take part in sport.”
- Street Luge & Bungy jumping attract many people but high percentage of them choose not to participate.
- 10-20% occupancy rate during Monday to Friday.
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90% of customers approve the quality of Wytee’s equipment, facilities & instructors but only 50% of customers would revisit.
- Poor communal atmosphere – particularly at weekends.
- Disharmony amongst franchises.
2.4.3 Opportunities:
- Innovator 15-19 segment, corporate team building sector, higher participation in street luge & bungy jumping.
2.4.4 Threats:
Competitors in the adventure breaks market:
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Holiday Agents: e.g. Virgin Ex, Thomas Cook. They offer a wide range of activities over a large geographical area.
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Holiday Resorts: e.g. Sands Resort.
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Red Letter Days: The market leaders (Mintel) retail their adventure breaks off the shelf & have a targeted approach aimed at the corporate team building sector.
Competitors in the clothing market:
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Fashion based: e.g. Vans. Develop Extreme Sports fashion items.
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Practical clothing: e.g. North Face. Provide the Extreme Sports enthusiast with practical clothing relating to the particular sport.
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Niche leaders: e.g. Quiksilver. Niche-based company who focus on their corner of the market.
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Smaller manufacturers: e.g. Snutz. These companies trade through independent retail outlets, mail order & online sales.
3. Marketing Strategy
3.1 Segmentation Strategy:
As per the Audit data, the main problem of the Wytee’s Centre has been identified as occupancy rates. Although many segments exist in the Extreme Sports market Wytee’s needs to focus on those which address their current problems:
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Corporate Team Building segment – Many of Wytee’s competitors are already focused on this area. Success in this segment will solve the problem of low weekday occupancy. Another factor we should note is the relatively expensive cost of team-building exercises in the UK. Hence, there is a potential for large revenue in this segment.
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Innovator 15-19 segment - According to our research the 15-24 year olds are the largest actual consumer for extreme sports and its merchandise.
3.2 Corporate segment strategy:
The following are recommendations about the marketing mix that should be applied to the corporate sector.
Outline of strategy:
3.3 Innovator segment strategy:
We have outlined our separate & unique strategy for the innovator market. This includes the WyDGee clothing brand.
Outline of strategy:
4. Management Strategy
4.1 Management Aim:
- Efficient & effective implementation of the segmentation strategy.
4.2 Organisational Management:
- The practical difficulties associated with this strategy places great emphasis on organisation. Strong leadership will be required to strike the balance between teamwork & individual responsibility. Achieving synergy is a key factor in making this strategy successful.
4.3 Human Resource Management:
- Staff will need to be retrained so that they will be able to shift their focus between the two distinct segments:
-Staff will need to focus on service & professionalism for the Corporate segment during the week.
-At the weekend the staff will must be flexible to accommodate the specific needs of each innovator, encouraging a relaxed & informal atmosphere.
4.4 Quality Management:
- Criteria must be developed so that quality of service can be continually monitored.
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The Extreme Sports Market is fast-moving & progressive. Close attention must be paid to product innovation, new consumer trends & the standards of Wytee’s competitors.
4.5 Brand Management:
WyDgee has potential as a separate brand name specifically for the lucrative 15-19 Innovator market. The advantages of brand development are as follows:
- High market share.
- Generates resources for expansion & further brand development.
- Attracts employees & suppliers.
5. Website Structure
5.1 Strategy decision:
Our Audit & Marketing analysis has identified two segments. We believe that these two segments are too distinct to incorporate into a single Website. Therefore, we have decided to construct two separate Websites for each segment:
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Wytee’s Corporate Website.
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WyDGee Website: This includes the WyDGee clothing brand & the WyDGee weekend activity centre.
5.2 Wytee’s corporate Website:
“Information Intensive portal explaining the services offered to Companies”.
5.2.1 Objectives of the Website:
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Introduce Wytee’s as a Market leader: the reputation, safety record etc.
- List the advantages of corporate team building:
-Strengthen commitment to your team & organization.
-Development of trust & support.
-Understanding strengths & weaknesses of teams & members.
-Development of leadership and interpersonal Skills.
-Dealing with diverse issues.
-Developing problem-solving skills/time management & planning skills.
-Enhance communication & improve active listening.
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List the different types of activities available at the centre & emphasise team participation.
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Provide a point of contact where companies can obtain Wytee’s details & booking information.
5.2.2 Promotional tools used:
- Online booking section.
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“Buy a voucher” page; Companies can offer these Wytee’s vouchers to their employee’s as an incentive or bonus.
5.2.3 Design:
- The design of the corporate website is simple yet professional. This is reflected in the fonts, colours, pictures & layout. Information needs to be easily accessible.
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The language on the website is clear and to-the-point. We have attempted to emphasise the “theme” of the website on each page. i.e. 1) Team-building is beneficial to companies, 2) Wytee’s can offer you an excellent team-building service.
5.3 WyDGee Website:
“Interactive portal raising awareness of the WyDGee brand”.
5.3.1 Objectives of the Website:
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Introduce the brandname WyDGee to the innovator market.
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Build an expression that WyDGee is a leading Extreme Sports company.
- Create an Extreme Sports portal that is continually updated so that innovators regularly visit the site.
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Promote the WyDGee Centre in Wales. The activities available at the WyDGee Centre will be shown through photo’s/video’ along with an explanation by one of the trained instructors. This will include a beginners guide for each sport.
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Promote & sell the WyDGee clothing brand.
5.3.2 Promotional tools used:
- Visitors to the site are encouraged to register. Once this information is obtained promotional material can be forwarded to them through emails.
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The site includes a booking page for the WyDGee Centre. Innovators cannot book directly online, but they can forward their specific requirements & be contacted at a further date. The Website is incentivised for the innovator because it has regular online promotions.
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The WyDGee brand is sold online. Once again the Website is incentivised e.g. Buy online & receive a 10% discount.
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The WyDGee Website has friendly links with Websites associated with Extreme Sports culture.
5.3.3 Design:
- The Website is fun & innovative. The page design is complicated; full of images, videos, audio, bright colours & animations.
- The language used is young & full of the “buzz words” associated with Extreme Sports.
- The Website is interactive. It contains message boards, chat rooms & games.
6. Cost
7. Evaluating the Strategy
How can we evaluate whether the strategy has been successful?
- Increased occupancy rate during the weekdays due to corporate customers.
- Increased number of innovators visiting the centre at the weekends.
- Web statistics: The number of visitors to each Website, which pages they visited, how many pages they visited & number of online bookings.
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Online sales of the Wytee’s Corporate Voucher.
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Online sales of the WyDGee brand.
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The increase in WyDGee brand awareness.
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The use of a Warranty card – when visitors come to the Centre they have to fill in a warranty card which asks which media they used to find out about Wytee’s.
8. Conclusion
We have audited the current position of the UK branch of Wytee’s and evaluated how new technology can be utilized to the companies benefit. Through a process of market analysis & marketing management we believe that we have developed a strategy that addresses the current problems you are experiencing & set a foundation which will allow your company to exploit future opportunities that this expanding market has to offer.
SEGMENTING, TARGETING, FOCUSING -A strategy that will strengthen Wytee’s position in the extreme sports market.
9. Bibliography
-“Extreme Sports”, November 2001, Mintel report.
-“Activity Days Out”, October 2001, Mintel report.
-“Leisure and the Internet”, May 2002, Mintel report.
-“Wealth of the nation report”, 2001, CACI Ltd.
-“Who’s buying online report”, 2001, Etypes Ltd.
-“Quiksilver boards surf-riding fashion niche”, 5th November 2002, Reuters.
-“UK going to extremes”, July 28th 1999, BBC.
-“Extreme sports gain fans, partly because kids today are loners”, August 26th 2001, Online Athens.
-“Extreme Sports diving into mainstream”, November 30th 1998, CNN.
-http://www.nz.pl.net/
-http://www.redletterdays.co.uk
-http://www.gowithapro.com/
-http://www.naelimits.com/
-http://www.hermes.net.au/ropewerx/default.htm
-http://www.ddholidayscanada.com/blackdiamondsw.htm
-http://www.extremesouth.co.nz/
-http://www.bluedome.co.uk/
-http://www.thenorthface.com/index_flash.html
-http://www.sgma.com/press/2001/press998343231-5807.html
-http://www.snutz.com/
-http://www.headstrong.co.uk/headstrong/main.asp
-http://www.oceantoearth.co.uk/home.htm
-Solomon, 2002, Consumer Behaviour. A European Perspective, 2nd Edition.
-Hawkins, 1998, Consumer Behaviour: Building Market Strategy.
-Brassington & Pettitt, 2000, Principles of Marketing, 2nd edition.
-Thompson & Strickland, Crafting Strategy and Executing Strategy.
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